Still
by Yurina Yoshikawa
Clara lies down horizontally inside what looks like a science fiction sleep capsule, wearing nothing but a thin paper gown. She stares up at the white plastic ceiling, though it’s so close to her face that maybe it’s less of a ceiling, more like a lid to a coff—
“Ms. Hoshino? We’re about to start,” the technician says into his mic. “Try not to move.”
In our weekend reading: thoughts on Sofia Samatar’s memoir, recommended books by Indigenous writers, and more.
MARSTON HEFNER is the author of High School Romance (CLASH Books, 2022).
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on books by Mariana Enríquez and Kate Zambreno, an interview with Zein El-Amine, and more.
In our morning reading: a profile of Allie Rowbottom, what it means to be big on BookTok, and more.
In our afternoon reading: interviews with Joshua Whitehead and Anne K. Yoder, revisiting Octavia E. Butler, and more.
Describing Steve Erickson’s fiction is no easy task. He’s a writer who regularly wrestles with big ideas, but he’s equally at home getting under the skin of his characters, embracing their contradictions, their messiness, and their essential humanity. Among his greatest talents–and one that’s boldly on display in his 2017 novel, Shadowbahn–is his ability to explore uncomfortable moments in time, and to tap into what makes certain chapters in recent (and not-so-recent) history compelling, resonant, or discomfiting for so many of us.
In our morning reading: thoughts on books by Percival Everett and Darryl Pinckney, nonfiction from Mila Jaroniec, and more.